Colo. suspect charges: Murder, attempted murder

Published 6:22 pm, Monday, July 30, 2012

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — James Holmes appeared just as dazed as he did in his first court hearing after the deadly Colorado movie theater massacre.

Holmes, 24, sat silently in a packed Denver-area courtroom on Monday, as a judge told him about the charges filed against him, including murder and attempted murder, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history.

After the charges were read, prosecutors and defense attorneys sparred over whether a notebook that news reports said Holmes sent to his psychiatrist and had descriptions of the attack was privileged information.

It’s an argument that foreshadows one of the case’s most fundamental issues: Does Holmes have a mental illness and, if so, what role did it play in the shooting that left 12 people dead and 58 others injured?

Sam Kamin, a law professor at the University of Denver, said there is “pronounced” evidence that the attack was premeditated, which would seem to make an insanity defense difficult. “But,” he added, “the things that we don’t know are what this case is going to hinge on, and that’s his mental state.”